LAST WEEK IN NEW ZEALAND.

I stayed in the YHA in Auckland for a few days as the storm weather continued to hit the North Island of New Zealand. I got to know a very friendly group of Irish people and we hung out together.
I still had my hire car so I took some girls from the hostel to visit Mission beach, a few miles out of Auckland.
We sat on a bench by the sea and enjoyed very tasty fish and chips in paper.
Then in a bid to feel as though I was eating a healthy diet I got some fat free Sorbet from a place the Lonely planet recommended in Mission called 'Movenpick ice cream'.
And it was delicious!
We then drove two hours west of Auckland to Karekare beach.It was made famous by the 1993 film 'The Piano',which starred Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel.

It is a stunning beach with dark sand.We had a long walk along the beach before driving along the very windy roads back to the centre of Aukland.
The next day I went to stay with Cathy O' Conner.I was best friends with her elder sister Sue when we were at school. We all spent a lot of time together in our school days.I had managed to track Cathy down and was really pleased to catch up with her for a few days.
She lives in a lovely house and works at the local hospital.

We had a nice time catching up on what we had both been up to over the last twenty odd years!! She has one grown up daughter, but sadly I did not have time to see her as I was due to fly out to Fiji. I loved my time in New Zealand but the storms and rainy weather in my last few days made me really look forward to staying in Fiji for a month.
But I have to say when the flight to Fiji took off from Auckland airport in the strong winds I was very very scared!!! I landed in Nadi in Fiji for the next leg of my round the world adventure.